Matthew Hinton / The Times-PicayuneMayor Ray Nagin cancelled a trip to Washington D.C. to support his family after the death of his nephew, 29-year-old Larry Smith Jr.

Eight days after falling out of the back of a moving pickup truck in Algiers, Mayor Ray Nagin's nephew died Sunday afternoon at a hospital.

Larry Smith Jr., 29, badly hurt his head after he tumbled out of a truck bed near the corner of General Meyer Avenue and Michael Street about 5 p.m. on Feb. 13, said John Gagliano, the New Orleans coroner's chief investigator.

Paramedics took Smith to LSU Interim Public Hospital. Doctors treated him for serious injuries. He survived for more than a week but died about 12:56 p.m. Sunday, Gagliano said.

Anastasia Nedd, the truck's 43-year-old driver, apparently argued with Smith in the moments before he fell out of the truck. Officers gave her a municipal citation for assault shortly after the accident, according to records supplied by Louis Ivon, an Orleans Parish Traffic Court judicial administrator.

Public records show that Nedd lives in the 2100 block of Valentine Court, less than a mile away from where Smith was hurt. Police spokesman Garry Flot said detectives may book her with more serious charges pending the outcome of an ongoing investigation.

Nagin canceled a trip to Washington, D.C., to support his family, said his spokeswoman, Ceeon Quiett. Nagin had planned to form part of a bipartisan delegation of more than 30 mayors organized by the U.S. Conference of Mayors to lobby on Capitol Hill for a jobs bill.

"He's been spending time with his family," Quiett said. "He handled some city business (Tuesday), but it is a very, very difficult time."

Smith's mother is Wanda Nagin Smith, one of the mayor's two sisters. Quiett said that Nagin was also the 29-year-old's godfather.